As Batangas 1st District Rep. Leandro Leviste released a list of contractors that allegedly claimed billions of pesos through the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) earlier Wednesday, names linked to so-called “cong-tractors” — lawmakers with construction interests — again surfaced.
Newington Builders Inc. topped Leviste’s list titled “Top Contractors from P161B List of DPWH Projects Tagged Under OP (ES/SAP), F1, BINI10, OT 2, LEADERSHIP, CENTI2025 in 2025 NEP,” with projects amounting to P6,594,391,000.
Reports indicate that the construction firm is owned by Construction Workers Solidarity party-list Rep. Edwin Gardiola, who has repeatedly denied involvement in any flood control project-related anomalies.
Based on the DPWH Project and Contract Management database, Newington Builders Inc. has secured several multi-million-peso contracts nationwide, including flood control projects and the construction of roads and bridges.
Gardiola also owns JSG Construction, named after his wife Judy Silva Gardiola, as well as S-Ang Construction and General Trading Inc., which is managed by his wife and children. S-Ang ranked second on Leviste’s list, with projects totaling ₱6.2 billion.
Leviste also released a separate post focused on Gardiola, which included 11 pages of documents he described as unverified, pointing to DPWH projects allegedly linked to the lawmaker that amount to a cumulative total of ₱22 billion.
“I am only sharing this document that was sent to me, and I have not verified it. However, based on my research, these projects exist and are real, and many of them were awarded to companies associated with CWS Partylist Representative Edwin Gardiola, including (but not limited to) companies owned or connected to his family,” Leviste said in a Facebook post.
Leviste said the documents include projects funded under unprogrammed appropriations, the National Expenditure Program, and bicameral conference committee replacements from 2023 to 2025.